White Chili

I didn’t grow up on bean dishes like most people. My mother was a wonderful cook and made us a healthy dinner every night. However, except for the occasional pot of ham and bean soup, beans weren’t ever on the menu. Boy, was I surprised by how much I really like bean dishes. We have beans at least every other week. And go figure; they’re good for us! Here’s one of our favorite recipes.

White Chili

1 lb great northern beans, dried

Chicken broth

1 ½ lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced

1 medium green pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can cream of celery soup

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon dried oregano

Rinse and sort beans. Place beans in a pot and cover with water. Cover and soak beans overnight. Drain and rinse well.

Place beans in a large Dutch oven. Cover beans with broth. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Heat over medium-high heat until chili begins to simmer. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for one to two hours, until beans are cooked through.

This is a nice thick chili that tastes great with tortilla chips.

Cook’s Notes:

• If you’re in a hurry or don’t like using dried beans, replace the dried beans with canned.
• This recipe can also be cooked in a slow cooker. If you’re using dried beans, set the crock pot on high for at least 8 hours. If you’re using canned beans, it’ll be ready in about 3 hours on high, 6 hours on low.
• For a little extra kick, add some diced chili peppers or extra chili powder.
• I no longer use cream of celery soup. I make my own celery powder and mix it with milk and flour as a substitute. It’s lower in sodium and fat that the canned soup. However, I know not everyone has celery powder so I left the original can of soup in the recipe.